Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A new report reveals the last year has been very profitable for
the Australian Lottery.

The SA Lotteries 2012/13 annual report shows total ticket
sales for the year were $462.1 million. That's an increase of 10% on the year before, and
tickets sales generate an incredible $900 of revenue a minute. SA Lotteries believe the
increase in sales is because Oz Lotto and Powerball jackpots of $15 million or
more are becoming more common. In August last year one Australian Powerball
player won $50 million and, a few weeks later, an Oz Lotto player was twice as
lucky when he walked away with a record-breaking $100 million in prize money.

Twelve months ago, Ian and Kim McCarthy won £1 million on the (UK) National Lottery, but the cash-conscious couple from Washington, Tyne and Wear, admit most of their winnings are still in the bank.

The McCarthy's numbers came up trumps in the Christmas Day (2012) draw, but the couple were so busy they failed to realize a six figure sum was waiting for them.

Ten days after the draw, Mr. McCarthy finally fished out the ticket and checked it. His wife was working at the local bingo hall at the time, and when Mr. McCarthy rushed over to give her the good news she became understandably emotional, but insisted on finishing her shift. "I kept bursting into tears," she admitted, "and people thought there was something wrong with me."

After they had picked up their winnings the generous couple gave away £100,000, splitting it between 30 of their family and friends. They also spent a further £20,000 on a trip to Florida, but Mr. McCarthy still works at the Nissan car manufacturing plant and his wife continued in her job until last September, even though the interest on their savings was a match for her bingo hall paycheck.

"We are not an extravagant couple," Mr. McCarthy stated. "The first thing we did was book the holiday, neither of us had a passport or had ever been abroad. It was fantastic—all inclusive—but apart from that we haven't spent the money." The couple still has £750,000 left and plan on investing it wisely.

The division-one prize in Saturday Night's Australian lotto draw has been claimed by two lucky winners. They have yet to be named, but the winning tickets are worth a $610,368 each.

One of the tickets was purchased from the Leonora Supermarket and Hardware store in the Gold Fields, and the other one came from the aptly named The Lucky Charm (newsagents) in Warnbro, Perth.

Division-one has been a lucrative lotto choice this year, and the two new winners are in good company because there has already been an astonishing 85 previous division-one winners in 2013, and now two more have joined their ranks it brings the total division-one payout up to an impressive $178 million.

Monday, December 30, 2013

A young girl with cerebral palsy is back on her feet thanks to the generosity of Scottish lottery winners Chris and Colin Weir.

Four-year-old Skye Swinton suffers from spastic diplegic cerebral palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair for most of her life. When Skye's mother, Ruth, wrote to the Weirs, asking for help, she was stunned when they rang her and offered to dip into their EuroMillions nest egg and pay for Skye to have revolutionary spine surgery.

Skye took her first unaided steps on Christmas Day. "Seeing her walking with a smile on her face is the most amazing Christmas present," Ruth said.

Speaking recently, a representative from the Ohio State Lottery admitted that over $130 million in lottery winnings have gone unclaimed since the summer of 2008. "We try to put in safeguards so that customers can conveniently check their tickets," Marie Kilbane stated. "Our ticket checkers, which are available at all of our retailers, will let you know if you've won and how much you've won."

Although most unclaimed prizes are relatively small, some Ohio Lottery winners have failed to claim six figure sums. "It is impossible to know why the winners never came forward," Kilbane continued, before
suggesting that some tickets may simply become lost or get tossed out by
mistake.

A former
healthcare worker who won £148 million on EuroMillions last year has left her
husband and taken up with the Audi dealer who supplied her with a fleet of
luxury cars.

Adrian and
Gillian Bayford received their massive EuroMillions payout in August,
2012. It was one of the biggest wins in Britain and the couple swore the money
would not change them, but last month Mrs. Bayford announced their separation. Mr.
Bayford confirmed this in a separate statement, saying, "Gillian and I
have split. When you win the lottery it’s so stressful."

When the
possibility of another man was suggested, Mr. Bayford dismissed the idea,
saying, "There’s never been anything like that at all." But his wife
has already moved out of their £6 million mansion, and bought a house on the
outskirts of Dundee, where she was spotted Christmas shopping with car salesman,
Alan Warnock. The two met just after the big win, when Mr. Warnock sold her
three Q7 SUVs and two Q5s. He has now given up his job at the John Clark Audi
dealership in Dundee, and moved in with Mrs. Bayford.

Standing
outside of her new home, with Mr. Warnock at her side, Mrs. Bayford explained
to the Mail on Sunday, "I have moved home." Her husband declined to
comment on the matter, but a close friend of Mr. Warnock stated, "Alan and
Gillian are an item and are serious about each other. He sold her the cars she
wanted after the big win and romance has blossomed since then."

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Teenage mother, Rebecca Tierney, is all set for happy new year after winning £100,000 on a (UK) National Lottery scratchcard, bought from Hooton News in Church Street, Golborne. She rarely buys scratchcards, and had only intended to buy a can of coke, but when she noticed the cards on the counter she decided to try her luck.

When she arrived home and began scratching the card Rebecca initially thought she had won £2, then realized she'd got the top prize of £100,000. She is now planning to take driving lessons and purchase her dream car—a Mini. "I have never considered myself lucky," said Rebecca. "This just shows that anyone can win."

Last Friday's EuroMillions draw had an incredible £71 million jackpot that had to be rolled over. A Jackpot of this size is rare for a EuroMillions draw and the impressive size of the prize reflects the fact that it had already been rolled over in each of the seven previous draws.

The biggest winners on Friday were all at the second tier level of prizes, and 11 ticket-holders, who matched five main numbers and one Lucky Star, will each receive a very respectable £108,519 payout.

The final EuroMillions draw of the year will be held on Tuesday, and the present Jackpot already stands at £81 million, so somebody could be wearing a very big winning smile next week.

A landscape gardener who found a $1 million New York lottery scratchcard has been told he can keep the money. Twenty-seven-year-old Marvine Rosales-Martinez, of Hicksville, Long island, found the Win $1,000 a Week for Life, scratchcard in November 2012, while doing some yard work for a client in Bayville. He was busy blowing some leaves when he noticed the soggy scratchcard. "I still don't know what made me pick it up," he told the New York Post.

After he had dried out his windfall Rosales-Martinez rushed it to his local New York Lottery office and the card was confirmed a winner, but lottery officials were unsure of his entitlement to the prize so they had to look further into the matter before they could hand over the money.

"A standard and thorough internal security investigation found no reason to believe that the ticket wasn’t rightfully the property of Mr Martinez," said a spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission. "There was no report of theft or of a ticket being misplaced."

The investigation took so long Rosales-Martinez forgot all about the life-changing find until he received a phone call three weeks ago and was invited to pick up the check. He has chosen to take the prize as a lump sum of $515,612 (after taxes), but the level-headed landscaper said the lottery winnings would not change the way he lives and he plans to continue working six days a week.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

An
Australian Powerball Lotto player netted a mind-blowing $50 million on Thursday.
The ticket, purchased in the Orana region, sets a record for being the biggest
single lotto win in New South Wales, but the unregistered ticket-holder has not
come forward yet.

The money
was won on a division one entry, and NSW Lotteries representative, Belinda
McDougal, believes the winner may be
recovering form overindulgence during the Christmas period and be unaware of the
win. "We have no way of contacting the winner to tell them they will be
starting the New Year as a multi-millionaire," McDougall stated.

The winning numbers are 16, 39, 7, 35, 3 and 25. The Powerball was number 13.

The
Wisconsin Lottery has been running for 25 years, has already provided lottery
players with over$6.46 billion in
prizes and paid outa further $714
million in commissions to lottery retailers. That's a lot of loot, but many Wisconsin residents
still feel let down by their state lottery.

When the lottery
was approved, in 1987, the good folk of Wisconsin were also promised property
tax relief and it appears many people prefer the idea of saving money to the
possibility of winning it.

The lottery
has already paid out $3.5 billion in tax relief, but many people feel the sum
should have been more. Lottery director, Michael Edmonds, disagrees,"I think people look upon the
lottery favorably in general, and we’ve been a consistent source of tax relief
for Wisconsin homeowners," Edmonds said. "$3.5 billion is a good chunk of money. We’re pretty
happy with where it’s at."

State
Senator, Robert Cowles, also appears happy with the present arrangement and
believes the lottery has been accepted by the majority of Wisconsin residents. Todd
Berry (Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance) has a different view. "We’ve done
studies where we looked at the lottery credit as a share of the average
property tax bill in Wisconsin. At its peak, it was a 4 to 5 percent reduction,
but it’s approaching a 1 percent reduction now."

Love it or
hate it though; the game goes on, people continue putting their numbers on, and
today's Mega Bucks draw has an expected (annuity) jackpot of $4.2 million.